PORTUGAL RURAL FIRE SITUATION 1830 HRS 20TH AUGUST 2025
OVERALL- The fire risk is expected to ease in the coming days, but today the situation in the various theatres of operations continues to be quite complicated, especially in the Castelo Branco region, where the Fundão fire has been described as “quite critical” by the mayor. Even with lower temperatures, the winds remain strong and people are confined indoors in some areas on Covilhã. Arganil is still active with an increase deployment of 1607 operatives, 534 vehicles and 13 aircraft.
DEPLOYMENT – Deployment at 1730 hrs were 4017 operatives (52 less than yesterday) 1300 vehicles and 32 aircraft. There were 49 fires at different stages (two less than yesterday) including seven active, 2 in despatch 7 in resolution and 32 in conclusion. A total of eight fires are at significant occurrence and of these only two are is from today – a more positive sign.
CASUALTIES –There have been three deaths since the fires began, but the total number of casualties has not been announced.
RESOURCES – The two Canadair planes provided by Morocco to help fight the fires in Portugal returned to their country of origin today, according to the ANEPC.
Within hours, a new firefighting reinforcement will arrive in Portugal and is expected to begin operations as early as Thursday morning. This time, Civil Protection announced, it will be a Super Puma helicopter, sent by France, and will be deployed under the auspices of the European Civil Protection Mechanism. The helicopter is expected to arrive at Monte Real Air Base this afternoon, according to a statement sent to newsrooms. It’s a heavy-duty device, capable of discharging 3,000 litres of water, and will arrive accompanied by a team of five
LAND BURNED – The fire that started in Piódão, Arganil, on the 13th and is still burning, is “very likely” the largest ever in Portugal, said specialist Paulo Fernandes, estimating a burned area of around 60 thousand hectares. The fire spread to the districts of Castelo Branco and Guarda has already consumed around 60 thousand hectares, the fire specialist and member of the technical committees analysing the major fires of 2017 told the Lusa news agency. The fire that started in Freches, Trancoso, on August 9 and was resolved on Sunday, has a burned area of 49,324 hectares
POLITICAL – The Assembly of the Republic today unanimously approved requests to hold an extraordinary debate in the standing committee with the Prime Minister next Wednesday afternoon on the coordination of firefighting.
The proposals from Chega and the PCP were put to a vote at an extraordinary meeting of the leaders’ conference and approved unanimously, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, told reporters at the end of the meeting. The debate will take place next Wednesday, the 27th, at 3:00 pm.
SUPPORT MEASURES – Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has called an extraordinary Council of Ministers meeting for this Thursday to approve support measures for populations affected by the forest fires
COMMUNICATIONS – The restoration of fixed and mobile communications services and electricity supply in areas affected by the fires is underway, conditioned by some access difficulties and still-active fires, Anacom and E-Redes told Lusa.
“The extensive burnt areas have destroyed many fiber optic cable routes that can only be restored after firefighters have completed the rescue work and after safety conditions have been met for operator technicians to access the sites,” explained the National Communications Authority (Anacom), in a written response to Lusa, confirming that “rural fires have, in fact, affected electronic communications service, particularly fixed and mobile services.”
FUNDÃO
The rural fire raging in Fundão worsened in the early afternoon , especially on the fire line to Castelo Novo, and the Souto da Casa front is out of control , the mayor told Lusa.
“The situation worsened significantly in the early afternoon and made the fire much more serious than it was in the morning,” said Paulo Fernandes.
Mayor says situation in Fundão is “quite critical”: “we are operating with our own resources” to fight the fires The Mayor of Fundão said today that the lack of resources on the ground could seriously compromise the fight against the fire raging in the municipality, if nothing changes by the end of the morning.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency earlier today Paulo Fernandes explained that direct combat during the night managed to “mitigate some risk” on the slopes of Boxinos and in the village of Açor. “The most serious situation is in Serra da Gardunha, with the fire moving slowly but very dangerously towards Castelo Novo,” he said. According to the mayor, the northern front, near Souto da Casa, is very unstable.
Paulo Fernandes emphasized that all fire fronts are very unstable and there are numerous hot spots that could complicate the situation at any moment.
“Structurally, we lack resources. Basically, we are operating with Fundão’s own resources. The air resources are not yet operational at this time. We were told in the briefing [on the third day] that we could have air resources. We still don’t have any operating at this time,” he maintained. The mayor stressed that the situation in his municipality is “quite critical” and that the arrival of more land resources, tracked machines, and “more resources” is urgent.
“If these failures are not addressed, we run the risk of repeating the terrible and tragic scenes that occurred yesterday [Tuesday] and early this evening, with several locations surrounded by fire,” he said.
MONTALEGRE, VILA REAL
The fire that entered Chaves, in the district of Vila Real, coming from Galicia, suffered a strong reactivation this Wednesday afternoon near companies in the business park, Lusa observed on site. The fire had entered the resolution phase at 10:35 hrs today, after “a night of hard work”, with “all resources committed” and “the use of crawler machines”.
However, after 14.30 hrs, there was a strong reactivation at the back of a mushroom factory, extending through the Chaves business district, where, according to the Lusa news agency, ground resources are being concentrated and two planes are in action. Motorway 24 (A24) is closed to traffic in the Chaves area, between the Casino and Vila Verde da Raia interchanges, due to the reactivation of a fire that crossed the border from Galicia. Deployment 434 operatives, 138 vehicles and 4 aircraft
CASTELO BRANCO
The fire raging in Castelo Branco destroyed, in the early hours of the morning, a first home in the town of Casal da Serra, in the parish of São Vicente da Beira.
According to the municipality, during the night and early morning, the fight against the flames took place, mainly, in the perimeter of Casal da Serra, Torre, Louriçal do Campo, in the Bairro do Caldeira, in São Vicente da Beira and in the area surrounding the Chapel of Senhora da Orada. “Despite the milder evolution of the fire, there is some concern in the fight against the flames in the Ribeira de Eiras and Vale da Figueira areas.”
SABUGAL
The fire remains active with a total of operatives, vehicles and aircraft deployed.The fire that has been raging in the municipality of Sabugal since Friday, August 15th, is in the extinguishing phase this afternoon but ONLY in respect of the two remaining active fronts, in Santo Estêvão and the municipality of Penamacor.
Operators remain on the ground carrying out surveillance and consolidation work to prevent rekindling, as happened on Tuesday afternoon, but we can now say that the fire is in the extinguishing phase. Sabugal City Council Mayor Vítor Proença told the Lusa news agency. According to the mayor, the significant drop in temperatures and the rise in relative humidity overnight helped in fighting the flames.
However, Vítor Proença remains cautious because, in recent days, the situation has changed late in the morning, with rising temperatures and increasing winds. A hospital source reports a serious condition that is “very unstable, aggravated by the comorbidities he previously had.” The 45-year-old operator was injured during firefighting operations. Deployment 427 operatives, 114 vehicles and one aircraft
ARGANIL fire has more than 1,607 operators, 534 vehicles and 13 aerial resources
The fire that has been raging since August 13th in the municipality of Arganil, in Coimbra, and has spread to the municipalities of Pampilhosa da Serra, Seia, Covilhã, Fundão and, more recently, Castelo Branco, is, by far, the most worrying. At 11:00 hrs, 1,624 personnel were already mobilized, supported by 542 ground resources and 15 air resources.
The fire in Pampilhosa da Serra is not actively burning this morning, but there are still small pockets of fire that could become new fronts, the mayor said. “Once again, during the night, extraordinary work was done here to try to reduce the fire lines, and it was successful. At the moment, we don’t see any fire,” Jorge Custódio told Lusa news agency.
COVILHA
In a note sent to the Lusa news agency, the municipality of Covilhã, in the district of Castelo Branco, said that the conditions for fighting the fire “are even more difficult” and that the Taliscas front is progressing towards the towns of Dominguizo and Vales do Rio “with great intensity”.
The municipality also appealed to the population, especially in the most affected areas, to remain in safe places and to adopt self-protection behaviors.
The population of Vale de Cerdeira, in the parish of São Jorge da Beira, Covilhã, is confined to their refuge, and the fire has worsened, particularly near Peso, Vales do Rio, Dominguizo, and Tortosendo, the City Council reported.
“Given the fire situation in the municipality [of Covilhã], it is reported that conditions on the ground have worsened, and therefore the population in the affected areas is asked to exercise maximum caution,” the Covilhã municipality reported on its Facebook page. According to the statement published at 13.35 hrs, the municipality also issued a precautionary alert for the localities of Peso, Vales do Rio, Dominguizo, and Tortosendo .
The Covilhã City Council reports that firefighting conditions are even more difficult due to the weather conditions and that the Taliscas front is progressing towards the towns of Dominguizo and Vales do Rio with great intensity.
In light of the fire raging in the municipality, the municipality is asking people in the affected areas to remain in a safe place, adopt self-protection practices, and always follow the authorities’ instructions.